This was a 12 hour day of travel. Due to our cheap plane tickets, we got to fly to Baltimore before flying to Salt Lake City. The thing is- we used to live in Baltimore and we could NEVER find a direct flight when we lived there.... go figure. Anyway, we survived the harrowing 5 hour flight from Baltimore to SLC without too much trouble and with no Benadryl. After a 1 hour drive from Salt Lake to Provo, we finally got to see all of Marc's siblings and their kids who had gathered for the weekend family reunion. Unfortunately, no one wanted to hug us because our whole family had pink eye. Woo hoo!
We had a lovely family dinner with some amazing potato leek soup (I am still waiting for that recipe, Marcus...) and salad with steak and shrimp. We also did our Christmas gift exchange that night. We received a much-needed new skillet and two awesome games. We just played "In a Pickle" last night and loved it. Thank you Lora and Johnny!
Sunday, Day 2
The real miracle of the day was that our boys SLEPT IN! This was the first trip to Utah since our kids were born in which I did not have to get up at 4 AM with crying children who had not adjusted to mountain standard time. Hallelujah!
We all got up and dressed for church and we just couldn't resist getting a couple of family pictures in our matching red outfits.
Then, it was off to church to see our adorable new nephew Cassius receive his name and blessing from his father. After, we all went to Ryan and Jen's house for a gourmet lunch (best tomato salad ever!) and virgin mojitos.
We spent the afternoon napping and chatting then went to church again for the Baptism of one of our other nephews, Kaleb. Gabriel was very interested in the concept of baptism and was convinced that he wanted to be baptized too. (I think it had something to do with the attention and Reeses peanut butter cups that Kaleb received.) Gabriel immediately changed his mind about being baptized, however, when he saw that Kaleb had to go all the way under water.
That evening, Marcus made his famous cookies and we all played a mafia-like game called Werewolves. I don't know how I feel about this game. I got killed off both times, and Marc turned out to be a werewolf both times... what does that say about our relationship?
Monday, Day 3
Monday morning was officially family picture time. One thing you should know about all Ricks women is that they are a little fanatic about their pictures. It took some time, but I'm sure we'll all be happy with the results. Here is a picture of Marc with all five of his siblings:
The rest of the morning was spent going to visit Marc's paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother. Marc's grandpa (also named Marc Ricks and also a doctor) turned 100 on Thursday. Pretty impressive. Our boys were happy to share in a birthday cupcake and they even recognized their great-grandparents from the photo albums we made for them.
The whole family went out to lunch at Los Hermanos, a Utah tradition. If you wear a Los Hermanos t-shirt you get a free specialty drink, so we all showed up in owned or borrowed t-shirts. Our boys, of course, did not eat any of their entrees, but instead preferred to eat any food that other people dropped on the floor. David John's goal was to make as large a mess as possible, and I narrowly missed being the target of some catapulted guacamole. Despite all of this, their behavior was a huge improvement over the last time we all went out to eat together. There was no screaming or tantrums and no non-family members had food thrown at them.
Unfortunately, Robert and Nancy and Jonx and Tine had to leave after lunch, but the rest of us headed back to Provo.
We had promised our boys that while we were in Utah we would take them to see the temple. Gabe's favorite song and nightly request is "I Love to See the Temple" (Ding Dong the Witch is Dead is a close 2nd, he has varied taste in music). The boys were awed as we drove onto the temple grounds. We pointed to the temple spire and asked "Who's that up there?" Elijah answered "That's a child of God up there!" (I bet you can guess which primary song is his favorite.)
The boys loved the fountains and all of the flowers. We walked around the grounds and just really enjoyed being a family.
That night for dinner we devoured Johnny's signature whole wheat and applesauce pancakes. Marc's sisters are all smart- they married men who can cook!
We loved being able to see everyone and enjoy being together as a whole extended family even if it was only for a few days. Our thanks to Oma for hosting and doing a ridiculous number of dishes and to Opa for assisting with the financing so we could all make it.
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